Case Report
Primary Small Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma
of Paranasal Sinuses
Maliha Khan,
1
Sobia Nizami,
2
Aibek E. Mirrakhimov,
1
Benjamin Maughan,
3
Justin A. Bishop,
3
and William H. Sharfman
3
1
Presence Saint Joseph Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine, 2900 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60657, USA
2
Department of Medicine, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Sindh 74800, Pakistan
3
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Maliha Khan; doc.maliha@gmail.com
Received 26 April 2014; Revised 3 June 2014; Accepted 3 June 2014; Published 25 June 2014
Academic Editor: David W. Eisele
Copyright © 2014 Maliha Khan et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the paranasal sinuses is an extremely rare and aggressive neoplasm. Despite aggressive
management, the tumor carries a poor prognosis, with a high risk of local recurrence or distant metastases. he management
strategy is based on that for pulmonary small cell cancer and includes platinum-based chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy.
We are reporting a case of an 89-year-old female patient diagnosed with small cell carcinoma of right-sided ethmoid and sphenoid
sinuses. he tumor was found to have invaded the right orbit and anterior cranial fossa. Metastases to cervical lymph nodes and bone
were also found. Due to the extended stage and poor prognosis of the patient, the management plan is palliative chemoradiotherapy.
1. Introduction
Small cell carcinoma (SCC) is a poorly diferentiated neu-
roendocrine tumor that most commonly occurs in the lung
[1]. Small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (SNEC) of the
paranasal sinuses is an extremely rare and aggressive tumor
that demonstrates rapid expansion and early hematogenous
spread [2]. Although the tumor is responsive to initial local
therapy [1], it is associated with frequent local recurrence
and new distant metastases, leading to poor prognosis [2].
Here we report the case of a patient diagnosed with small cell
neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ethmoid/sphenoid sinuses
with local intracranial extension, who was referred to our
center for management.
2. Case History
An 89-year-old female with a history of hypertension, hyper-
cholesterolemia, glaucoma, and osteoarthritis presented with
a history of headaches and facial pain over the right side of
her face for one month. Other symptoms included decreased
vision in the right eye, intermittent diplopia, diiculty in
closing the right eye, and gait unsteadiness. She described
having overall fatigue and lower back pain, worse on walking,
for the past 3 months. here was no past history of cigarette
smoking. Physical examination was positive for complete
right eyelid closure, no overlying skin changes and no cervical
lymphadenopathy. Brain CT and MRI scans revealed a large
sinonasal mass involving the ethmoid/sphenoid sinuses and
extending into the right orbit and anterior cranial fossa
(Figures 1, 2, and 3). Fine-need aspiration of the nasal mass
conirmed the tumor as small cell carcinoma (Figure 4(a)).
A PET scan was done to look for distant disease as well
as a possible lung primary, which showed multiple bone
metastases but no lung mass. Immunohistochemical studies
demonstrated tumor positivity for AE1/AE3 in a dot-like
pattern (Figure 4(b)), synaptophysin (Figure 4(c)), and chro-
mogranin and were negative for CD45, S100, and myogenin.
he tumor was also positive for high-risk HPV by in situ
hybridization (Figure 4(d)). he patient was diagnosed with
extensive stage small cell carcinoma of the ethmoid/sphenoid
sinuses. Due to disseminated disease, she was scheduled for
palliative chemotherapy with 6 cycles of carboplatin and
etoposide every 21 days [3].
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Case Reports in Medicine
Volume 2014, Article ID 874719, 4 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/874719